Surprise!
by Freespirit127
Summary: Lifeline gets a taste of family life


**Disclaimer: **You know the drill... all Hasbro's, Marvel's, DDP's, none mine... except for Sandy, Josh and Emily.

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Surprise!

CLANG! CRASH!

"Wha…?" Edwin Steen shot up from his sleep. Next to him, his fiancée Sandy Carson raised her head.

"What was that?" she asked, sleepily.

"I don't know." He got out of bed. "Stay here. I'll go and check."

"Ed," Sandy started, but he was already out of the door.

Carefully, he sneaked down the stairs, barely making a sound. He knew he had to assess the situation first before he could act on it. Slowly he crossed the floor, his back pressed to the wall. Every second step, he looked back to the stairs, fearing that Sandy or one of the twins would come down to see what was going on. Ed's heart raced at the thought that something – or someone – could threaten his family.

Another crash. Now he could clearly determine the direction it came from.

The kitchen.

No big surprise. The kitchen had a back door that led straight to the garden. Their fence could be easily crossed, and the door itself wasn't very secure either. All he knew was that the perpetrators weren't Cobra. If they'd been... he'd probably never have heard a thing before... he shuddered at the thought of what they would have done to Sandy and the children.

The kitchen door stood slightly ajar, and he could hear somebody moving around and talking in hushed voices. Ed blinked. Those voices were a bit too high-pitched to belong to adults... and all too familiar to his ears.

"Do you know how Eddie drinks his coffee?"

"No," a second voice said. "Just put some sugar and milk on the tray."

Blinking, Ed slowly edged closer until he reached the door and could see what was going on. A milk carton lay on the counter, it's content dripping to the ground where they where licked off by their cat Pepper. Cornflakes and other cereals were scattered across the floor. A reddish fluid spilled out of the blender. And in the middle of it, two seven-year-old children were busily increasing the chaos.

"Em," Josh said, "do you think we can make the pancakes in the microwave?"

"Mommy only said not to touch the oven when there's no adult around."

"Okay," the boy said cheerfully and filled some ready-to-bake-dough into a microwave dish.

From his position on the door, Ed couldn't help but grin. Here he'd sneaked through the house, full expecting to stumble across Cobra agents or a burglar... and found "his" children trying to make breakfast on their own. For a second he was tempted to step into the kitchen and help them... but then again he knew that they wanted to surprise him and Sandy.

And he wouldn't spoil it for them.

Quickly – and quietly – he walked up the stairs back to the master bedroom. Sandy was sitting up in bed, reading a book and crawling the head of their husky Paula. Without looking up from her book, she asked: "Kids making breakfast?"

"How do you know?"

Sandy grinned. "Honestly?"

"Yeah," Ed replied, getting back under the covers.

"I heard Emily giggling in the corridor and Josh telling her to be quiet so she wouldn't ruin the surprise breakfast."

Ed blinked. "And even though you knew this, you let me go downstairs and check the situation?"

"Sure." Sandy closed her book and grinned. "I love it when you play knight in shining armor."

"It is my duty to serve my queen and protect her and our castle." He grinned mischievously.

"Well, brave knight, you shall receive your reward."

Sandy grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him to her, kissing him passionately. Once they separated again, Ed leaned his forehead against Sandy's and closed his eyes.

_I must have done something very good in a former life,_ he thought, _to deserve her and the kids. _

A clanking sound from the stairway and hushed voices caught their attention. The two adults looked at each other, and quickly Ed signalled Sandy to lie down again and pretend to be asleep.

Just as they had sunk back into their pillows, Ed snuggled up to Sandy, the bedroom door opened

Carefully, Josh and Emily sneaked into the bedroom, carrying a tray. As they reached the foot of the bed, both children took a deep breath and yelled:

"SURPRISE!"

Ed shot up, pretending to be surprised, while Sandy just blinked and raised her head.

"We made you breakfast!" Emily chirped happily.

"Oh, really?" Ed grinned. He looked at the tray. "Oooh, that looks delicious. Don't you think, honey?"

"Absolutely," Sandy said and sat up in bed with a smile. She knew that the kitchen would probably qualify as a disaster area now, but she didn't care. The kids had meant well.

Rubbing his hands, Ed tried to pretend he couldn't choose what to try first. Coffee made with lukewarm water from the tap – since the kids were not allowed to use the coffee machine on their own -, still almost liquid pancakes, toast burned beyond recognition and a few cornflakes drowning in an ocean of milk.

He reached for a slice of toast that wasn't too badly burned and started to spread a generous amount of peanut butter on it while Sandy reached for the cereal. With a smile, he took a bite of his toast. Even with the peanut butter it still tasted horrible, but it would beat Army breakfast any time.

"Mmmmm... very good."

It was a lie. But it was a sin worth committing if it made the children smile.

And they did.


End file.
